This is a night pic without flash.

A view of the same area in the day time.

This is from last Christmas, when I did not have a dining room table (old one on loan to DD)

Where did you get the rooster? I've been looking for a bronze/brown colored one forever with no luck.

Nancy

Nancy

With leaf platter charger:

Without charger:

Just wanted to tell you that I loved your pictures on this post and the one over in Discussions! Your home seems very warm and shows the love you have for it in your accessorizing.

I kind of miss being a SAHM because I used to love spending time accessorizing, but I find I'm lucky to have the energy just to clean the house now - forget about accessorizing!

I hope you will post more of your home photos; I'll accessorize vicariously through you! : )

Kathy

Kathy, I am not a SAHM, I am single and I have to work for a long, long time before I get to retire :( I do have a grown DD, but even when she was home I loved doing this. For me it is relaxing and rewarding, it helps bring me down from my high stress job.

Here is another bit of tweeking I just did, replaced the bronze rooster with a more colorful one.
PS. ignore the gold glass dinner plate to the right on the table, it is a left over piece of my tweeking process. LOL

This is with the flash so more detail shows. please excuse the view into the kitchen, in my remodel I will be enlosing that entrance:

closeup

I attached these on one of my other threads, but you may not have seen it.

here's another earlier pic I had saved to my Photobucket, my newer ones are on a crashed disk. I already erased the new photos off my camera, and I removed this look off my table to do another look, Grrrrr, I don't know if I have the patience to bring it back out and set up since I'm trying to do my pink tree too.

Here's another Ralph Lauren meets Victoria Magazine (LOL)

With a crystal bowl

Changed the bunnies out with my silver Pheasents/birds.

Baby Jesus scene

Well, I have a lot more, but they are mostly other closeups of the same things (I tend to take alot of pics, I LOVE my digi camera) LOL

Red

But....there was not a pic of showing your mantel with the mirror that you spoke of and the lamps, can you put up a newer pic?

I could give you lots of discriptive things that I would do with your mantel, I don't have one myself, but I still collect lots of inspiration photos on them (just in-case one day I win the lottery and can put a fireplace in LOL ) So, I have lots of ideas, and photos I can share, but I need a direction that you want to go in, do you want it to be elegant, modern, traditional, country, simple design, over-the-top design? I see you have reds in your room (rug) and greens, are you wanting to stick with that color scheme or are you going with something in particular?

Sorry about all these questions, but if I don't narrow it down a bit, I could write a book and probably bore you to death LOL

I love mirrors over the mantel, especially for Christmas because of the reflective qualities that it provides.

Hmmm..here are a few thoughts/suggestions on the subject before you answer me back.
Use many graduated sized of candles, either pillar style, or tapers in candlesticks, sitting in a bed of greenery, with ornaments of your choice tucked inside. I am also fond of a few flowers with your color theme tucked in, I also like the idea of enlongated ormaments hanging from the greenery, if you can still find some glass icilces from Kmart (Martha Stewart designs) hang some of those too, with the glisening from the lighted candles, and the shimmering of the glass icicles from the surround light (or fireplace if you light it) it would look very magicial.

Bearing in mind that I tend to be an over-kill person (yes it is an illness, so my DD tells me), and you still could add berries to the greenery too, and ribbon running though it, and if you have a favorite santa, reindeer, etc. incorporating that special focal point always helps.

I love a bit of greenery tucked around the mirror itself, to bring it more into the design, have a few decortive things in the greenery to tie it into the mantel (balls, flowers, ribbon, berries etc.)

Collections of nutcrackers look great on a mantel, so do villages, a small nativity scene, natural fruit designs, whoops there I go carrying on.....

I am really not very good at telling someone what to do to decorate their home, I am one of those people who do best being in a persons home and going thru everything they own and using what is available, then buying what I need to "finish" off the look. I am afraid I am not a very good "long-distance decorator" (I so admire those that can do this, but you can understand why I hesitate to give much direction over the net) but if you want more thoughts on the matter I'd love to give you my 2cents.

I will get a mantel shot on Friday. And I totally know what you're talking about......working with the stuff you find. I have a lot of stuff. I've been putting stuff away for years. Usually, I dig through shelves and tops of closets, stacks of vintage prints, old birdcages, old china, etc., and find just the right things to put together to rework a corner or a tabletop. But for some reason..........that mantel is not coming together for me. And I don't need Christmas decor. I just want it to look pretty every day. Sometimes I think maybe I just need to start looking for an antique mantel piece to replace the chunky shelf that is there now.

Sorry you had to do the detective work, although I've done that on you when I wanted to see something that I couldn't find on a particular thread.

Red

I will only be at my computer in the morning of Friday, I start my vacation that day, so no computer for a week or so, Argggghhh

Sylvia

Now, I see a lot of different colored stemware, please tell me where on earth do you store all your decorative items????? My husband is forever telling me to unload things & have less around the house, I have no idea where I'd store all those things!!

sylvia, I hope to post some Valentines day settings, and after that Easter, but I'm still in the "composing stage" right now.

sandi w, I am in the process of taking photographs of all my dishware so I have a good visual inventory, I'll try to post a better pic of the Villeroy and Boch (Adun Pattern) china in a bit.

yachter123,
I store my stuff all over the house, the good stuff stays in the house, the more sturdy items are stored in the garage. As soon as it gets warmer here I plan on putting up alot of shelving in the garage so things will be more orderly. Alot of my "color" glass ware goes with many, many dish styles so I do get more than "one' use out of them.

I wish there was an Accessorizing Forum, it is such a specialized thing that I think it would get plenty of traffic.

Ignore all the other extra dishes on the table, this is how I decide what I want to do....

Sylvia

Here is some shots of my Valentines Day table

Thanks for sharing, looking forward to seeing more.
Sylvia :D

sylvia, thank you, I am glad you are inspired to pull out some of your treasures, it is so much fun to rediscover and reuse your things that you had tucked away in another way.

"Tea for Two", I love the little square sugar cubes, they are hard to find now-a-days...

You have the most beautiful things and a talent for arranging them! My question to you is - where do you store all of these beautiful things? AND, do you really sit down and eat and these beautiful tables or do you set them up for show?

Here are a few more pics.

If you click on the picture it will take you to my album.

I just can't imagine where you store all this and keep it so organized - I can barely keep my sock drawer organized!
Again, beautiful!

Nami

I was just asking about you a few days ago on another thread. I recall seeing some of your gorgeous photos about a year ago, but spend most of my GW time on 'building a home" site. So glad I "stumbled" across this post tonight.

These tables are GORGEOUS. I mean DROP DEAD GORGEOUS. I think my favorite was the pink table, and I've never even thought to use pink! Wow. You opened my eyes to a whole new world out there. Makes me want to RUN, no..... SPRINT to a china shop and get some gorgeous dishes like yours.

You have a wonderful eye for decorating. It is an absolute gift. Most of us aren't blessed with your talent.... it's rare. Seriously, you must figure out how to market your talent and do this for a living.

Blessings on your surgery, and happy recovery. I hope you will feel well quickly, and can come back to post some new "playtime with judith" soon. It's a treat... an absolute treat to see your photos. Thanks for sharing!

totallyblessed, thank you too, I am definately blushing with all these wonderful comments. I know what you mean about "pink" in a tablesetting, most people would not think that they would enjoy pink, but find they would like it after all. Thank you for the well wishes too! :)

A little sneak peak, I still have to put the glass icicles on it, and maybe a few crystals.

Blizlady, thank you so much for your kind comments. Themed trees are fun, but I do love traditional trees too. Tablesetting is a passion of mine, it helps add to the pleasure of dining. Chargers are very popular right now, you should be able to find quite a few choices.

This is inside someone's closet!

Maybe I should have started a new thread. I'm not sure if this was fair to Judith.

I'd just like to see tons of pics grouped together under good headings so folks can quickly go get inspiration for their next projects when they want it.

Oceanna - I see you enjoy two of the same blogs that I do!

tina

The inspiration photos you posted are great, the only thing I am concerned about is that I think there is a posting limit on each Post, I beleive it is 150 posts, right now the posts for this page is close to 100, in the past when a post reaches a certain size (If I remember correctly) you can no longer post new things, so then it will "roll off" the main page getting "lost". So basically once the original post is "full", one can't add any other photos or comments, so when someone added a new post on a different subject it forces the posting you are working on down the page eventually "dissappearing". (I hope this makes sense) :)

With all the work you have gone too, it might be best for you to start a seperate post so that your contributions are more "long lived" on GW, other wise it won't be on the front page for long. I wish there was a way to keep certain things on longer.

I know how long it takes you to gather and load those photos, this way your contribution will be enjoyed by everyone for a long time compared to this thread which is nearing "fullness" LOL.

Thanks for the nice complement, I do appreciate it, and I do appreciate all the work you have put into providing everyone the great inspiration photos!

Here is an old pic I thought I had posted but I don't see it here, so I will put my salute to Spring and Easter in this pic:

oceanna, the only thing wrong with all your inspiration pics - I can't resist drooling over them. I am having to limit myself! Thanks for all the hard work you have put forth to provide a one-stop inspiration site!

My tablesetting tonight for one (moi). I do like doing a nice setup, even if it is only for me. :)
Menu: Spaghetti, salad and bread, simple but yummy.

Long shot, way overexposed! Yikes!

If you click the link below "Judiths Blog", it will take you to my blog, there just leave me a comment on one of my photos with your email address (If you don't want your email address showing I wont "publish" your comment
( I moderate comments because of Spam), It will just be a vehicle to get me your email privately.

Judith

P.S to Ruthie who asked earlier about mantels, the same offer is to you too if you are interested.

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Thanks for posting all the beautiful work you've done!

Nancy

This is just an arrangement I did on my dining room table, I will be incorporating these into my kitchen for my new open shelf look.

I'm almost afraid to go to your blog----LOL

I've never been on this forum before --I'm usually on the rose forums------Hi Patricia43-----(my old friend)

Thanks You carla for asking about dishes----

Nice to meet you Judith---I LOVE all your place settings.

Florence/zeffyrose

Bodica, I find my accessories in lots of stores, and many I have had for years and years, I always keep my eye peeled for goodies.

Carla

Marigene and elenkao, you asked about storage. All the china and crystal is stored in my house, in closets and such. the regular stoneware, glass, ceramic type of items are stored on shelves in my garage.

Mary1, yes feel free to save a pic you like, sometimes I have to remove them when my Photobucket or Flickr site gets too "full".

Monablair, thanks for the bump :)

If you click on photos, it should take you to my Flickr site.

Here is a few shots of Christmas tree and things from this last holiday.

Christmas presents from my DD.

"Spoiled Lady"

I haven't posted much, but I did have this photo that I don't think I had posted, a sort of goodby to summer, I will be posting a Fall tablesetting and fireplace mantel decor soon.

Pamelak, thank you very much for your kind words, I would certainly enjoy setting a table just for you. :)

I know my way of doing vignettes and tablesettings is not for everyone (I love lots of layers), I am glad if they give you some inspiration.
The plaid dishes were purchased at Target a few years ago. The black beaded items are not chargers, they are just round beaded placemats that I found at either TJMax or Marshalls, can't remember which one now. Around Christmas they will put alot of thhe beaded mats in lots of colors out in the stores for the holidays, Target carries them too, but more expensive than the other "discount stores". Walmart had some beaded placemats too. My dish sources are pretty much TJ Max, Marshalls, Walmart, Target, basically discount type of stores. We do have outlets near me, that is where I bought all my Lenox and Mikasa type of dishes and accessories. Hope this helps.

Here is a sneak peek of my Fall fireplace mantel.

That is great that your guest enjoyed your table, even nicer that the men appreciated it.
Pam, I have not pulled out the plaid plates yet, but I will then I will post the name of them for you here.

I just got out some of my Christmas dishes. You asked about the name of my plaid dishes. They were bought from Target a few years ago. The back of the plate says:
"home" Traditional holiday (Porcelain, China, Microwave safe, dishwasher safe) Hope that helps :)

The plaid dishes make another appearance.

A few more things..

Coral and tree

Naughty Lady

Photo of my den/library closeup

It's raining in my area today and I'm headed out to my local TJMaxx. You have inspired me again. - Sharon

I purchased her a few years ago at Marshalls if I remember correctly. At one time when there was a constant flow of the male and female busts, I think she was only $12.00 or so. She is made from some kind of resin material.

I haven't had time in the last few months to do any decorating, I am remodeling, I have taken down 3 walls so far, which incorporates me redoing my livingroom, dining room and kitchen UGH! A major undertaking since I did the tear down 95% myself; fun but very messy, it looks like a tornado hit my house LOL. I am hoping by Christmas it will be mostly finished.

Best of luck with your remodel - the hard part is getting through it but then you get to enjoy it. Bliss!